Strength
by Nekocin
Summary: Written for platonicism lj community: Snippets of friendship or something closely resembling that amongst the characters.
1. 1 storybook

**Title: **Strength  
**Focus:** Natsume, Takuma, Nyanko-sensei, spirits, others?  
**Other:** written for platonicism, 25 set themes, random stuff at best.  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own Natsume Yuujinchou

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**#1 story book**

If he angles the book away from the light, faintly-inked scrawls of unknown characters would glisten across the blank pages like gloss-glitters girls adore to wear on their lips. One blink with his eyes, the scrawls disappear as if the shadows are playing tricks with him.

Habitually, he smiles, this is crazy--there's nothing there; there's nothing visible in the Yuujinchou, as Natsume and Ponta call it. But still, in the very back of his mind, he recognizes what this is all about. One of those inexplainable things that are part of Natsume's world.

Although Natsume hasn't gone into detail about the book and its contents, even Ponta is obviously unhelpful there, Tanuma feels he has gotten a little bit closer to Natsume than anyone besides Ponta.

Closing the hard cover carefully, his fingers trace around the cotton ribbon that holds the pages together, before handing it over.

"Thank you." He says at last.

And Natsume gives him a smile.

* * *

**TheNekoTalks:**

I let myself be baited to write this challenge. *drops head*

**.:Nekocin:.**


	2. 6 pollution

**Title: Strength  
****Fandom: **Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Focus: **Natsume, Nyanko-sensei, Reiko mention  
**Other:** written for the platonicism, 25 set theme.  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own Natsume Yuujinchou

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**#6 pollution**

He heard about this Natsume Reiko, a human, challenging spirits in exchange for their names, several weeks later, when the incidents started increasing in numbers and became a hot topic discussion amongst the spirits. It brought a wave of discomfort within his world. How could a mere human beat them in a game of possession?

"Such childish and impudent behaviour," he had sneered at Reiko, "must be punished."

She matched his sneer with a graceful smirk of her own, tilted her chin up and presented an offer. "Do you want to try me?"

He scoffed at her, his teeth bared and eyes narrowed. "Let me rid of your existence."

"And then I beat her." Nyanko-sensei ended flippantly between bites of meat buns, wrinkling his nose now and then.

Takashi eyed him non-plussed, his own meat bun forgotten. "Okay."

"What? You don't believe me?" Nyanko-sensei glared at him.

"It's hard not to, Nyanko-sensei. Then can you explain how you got sealed away?"

He turned his back to the boy, scoffing. "Some other time, kid."

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**TheNekoTalks:**

Argghh, Natsume Yuujinchou is still filled with unsolved mysteries!

**.:Nekocin:.**


	3. 5 hesitate

**Title: Strength  
****Fandom: **Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Focus: **Natsume, Takuma, Nyanko-sensei  
**Other:** written for platonicism, 25 set theme, random at best  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own Natsume Yuujinchou.

* * *

**#5 hesitate**

"Thank you for having me." Natsume says, his head slightly tilted in a bow, and one of his feet nudges Ponta to move along, who murmured about buns and sweets. He does not look up to meet Tanuma's expectant face, smiles absently and makes an awkward motion to the small table in the corner. "... and thanks for the tea and the sweets. They were delicious."

After school, Natsume had asked to come over in order to tell him something in private. Tanuma was more than happy to receive him; he had never had anyone more than twice over. Not even back in his previous town.

They had tea and sweets together, talked about the weather and school. But no matter how long they continued to converse about trivial matters, Natsume had yet to breech the topic he had been so focused on trying to tell Tanuma. Or so Tanuma assumes.

In the end, Tanuma doesn't even know what exactly is bothering Natsume.

Once at the door, Tanuma waves good day, insisting, "If there's something bothering you, you can still talk to me. Maybe not now. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe later."

Natsume has his hand hover in wave, stunned for a second, but then allows himself to smile. "Thank you."

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**TheNekoTalks:**I feel like I'm on the roll, writing Natsume fanfiction. ^^;; Originally, this ficlet had almost no purpose in my notebook. I was so frustrated. But in the end, I just decided "what the heck! It's decent enough". Uhm... :head desks:

**.:Nekocin:.  
**


	4. 19 gravity

**Title: **Strength  
**Fandom: **Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Focus: **Natsume, Nyanko-sensei, Natori-mention  
**Other:** written for **platonicism**, 25 set themes, random stuff at best.

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**#19 gravity**

Natsume's eyes twitched at the sight of crinkled wrappers, loose ribbons and haphazardly stacked up boxes and dark brown crumbs strewn across the floor. He had never seen his room in such a disordered state before, not after Tama-chan had left.  
Oh, he knew who the culprit is all right. He glared at the unusual large carton in the middle of the room, where he could hear smacking sounds of someone munching on something, and stepped into the room.

"Get out of there, Nyanko-sensei, and look what you've done to my room!" He snapped, his right arm already diving into the box, grabbed onto what felt like Nyanko-sensei's fat neckline and pulled! Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for the extra weight Nyanko-sensei had gained, startled, he fell backwards, the mysterious box toppling over his feet.

Several squished heart-shaped packages and one very familiar, round form spilled out altogether.

"Nyanko-sensei..." Natsume said in a low voice, raising his fist above the cat's head but stopped when Nyanko-sensei wobbled on his feet as he stood up.

"Huh? What happened? Oh, Natsume. It's only you." the cat slurred, wrinkling his nose as he gave Natsume full view of dark chocolate smeared across his cheeks and below his chin.

Natsume did not know whether to make a face or just laugh at the ridiculous sight. Torn between either reactions, he asked, "Nyanko-sensei, what's all this?" instead.

The cat hummed distractedly, his nose nudging the nearest heart-shaped package. Clearly, Nyanko-sensei was more interested in the contents of those pink hearts. Resisting the urge to punch the cat, Natsume pressed a foot on Nyanko-sensei's side and pushed him back into the box (Nyanko-sensei squawked indignantly).

"Get back in there before you dirty the floor even more than you already did. Why is this box in my room anyway?" For a moment, he looked around at the mess in his room and didn't know what to make of those heart boxes.

Nyanko-sensei slapped a paw on the carton. "That Natori-boy is so generous to send this huge gift to you. All the way from Okinawa, it says."

Natsume blinked, leaning over to find a small form pasted on the side of the box and read the sender's name. He read it again to make sure he wasn't seeing things and then leaned back to sit on his heels.

"...oh. I'm... surprised. But what for?"

A chocolate-stained card was nudged into his hand.

It was a small notice written by Natori, claiming he had received too much chocolates from his fans and so, he felt compelled to share them with Natsume. In Natsume's mind, he imagined Natori laugh with odd sparkles hanging in the air, wearing the same smile that always seem to charm the female population.

He felt a little weirded out.

"He didn't have to send anything over," Natsume muttered.

"You're so popular, Natsume. Aren't you glad?" Nyanko-sensei tilted his head back.

"Not particularly. But I really appreciate it if you hadn't made a whole mess here."

Nyanko-sensei bristled, as if having beenstepped on. "I thought it was strange that Natori-boy would send you this big gift, so I checked it out to see if there were any unwelcome surprises."

"And you end up devouring more than half of the chocolates, I'm sure." Natsume looked pointedly at the scattered mess.

"I was worried about your safety!" the cat defended himself and raged on about his ungrateful attitude, but Natsume ignored him, muttering "very suspicious" under his breath.

--

Although the contents of the box were questionable for a gift from one guy to another guy, Natsume thought it was all right... if not pleasant to receive his first package through the mail. He had decided to write a thank you note in return... once he was done tidying the place.

He rolled a very, very round Nyanko-sensei (who protested weakly) out of the way with the back of his foot as he gave his room a finishing sweep. He probably didn't have to do much though, since rolling sensei around the room was enough to turn the floor sparkling anyway.

* * *

**TheNekoTalks:  
**  
I wrote this way before "**Full Circle**". The theme sort of worked with Valentine's day, and is random enough to make me forget that awful, awful experience (only mentioned in my journal). Somehow, it actually looked way better in my notebook.

**.:Nekocin:.**


	5. 13 flashback

**Title:** Strength  
**Fandom:** Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Focus:** Gen, mention Natsume, Nyanko-sensei and Sui.  
**Other:** written for platonicism, 25 set themes, random stuff at best. Spoilers

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**#13 flashback**

Today, it has snowed a little less compared to the previous days. Layers of white cover the tree branches, the once-green field, the wild bushes within the vicinity and reach up to the paws of his statue. Spring is nearing, he realizes.

Today, a human and his cat have come to visit him. Bracing himself for another round of selfish wishes, he waits for them to approach and grovel at his feet. Did they come for the coming crops? Or for good health and riches? Or did they want an extra set of luck in order to win some grand prize? He notices, though, they haven't brought any ceremonial offerings no incense, no paper money in return.

They didn't come to ask for a favour.

Instead, they stay near the edge of the forest, first admiring the scenery and then getting into a full-blown snowball fight, until it is cut short by the cat's indignant cry about a cracked backbone.

Watching their short interaction, he is reminded again that he's made as a pair back then. He had a best friend with whom he played in the snow, with whom he ran in the flower fields during Spring and watched over the forest year after year. They used to quarrel on occasion, about petty things stupid arguments but the fights never lasted for a day, because Sui was kind. And he didn't like fighting.

Today, it has snowed a little less compared to the day before. Gen isn't so sure if he could bear the coming season on his own any longer.

**TheNekoTalks:**

... this has been sitting in my notebooks for months. I didn't know how to work this into the part where Gen suddenly jumps Natsume in the second season. D: In the end, I re-read this piece more than ten times until I finally gave into this kind of scene, instead of the comical ending of the original draft.

**.:Nekocin:.**


	6. 24 impressions

**Title:** Strength  
**Fandom:** Natsume Yuujinchou  
**Focus:** Natsume, Nishimura, Kitamoto and mention Nyanko-sensei  
**Other:** written for platonicism, 25 set themes, random stuff at best.

* * *

**#24 impressions**

They often say someone's bedroom is a reflection of the owner's real personality.

Nishimura had gone to Kitamoto's room so many times, he knew that guy liked to keep his stuff organized in boxes and cases. His books were categorized alphabetically on the shelves. His school notebooks were placed in boxes according to the years he had passed his grades. Even his pens had their own cases from regular blue ink fountain pens to colored ones and highlighters pens.

Whenever Kitamoto stayed over at Nishimura's house, there's always a pointless discussion about -his- messy wardrobe with stuffed clothes, his bookcase closet, which no one dared to open for more than 2 years, and sometimes about the chips scattered on his study table. So, yeah, what if he's just a bit messier than Kitamoto?

And yet, despite their differences, they understood quite well that Kitamoto, by nature, was the type who likes order, while Nishimura didn't care why he was sleeping with his clothes piled up on the bed and his books scattered on the floor (unless someone hounded him into tidying his corners).

When they first entered Natsume's room, all they could see were white walls, an empty study table, a near-empty closet, an open area in the center where Natsume probably laid out his futon--his room was so bare. It was as if Natsume were afraid to leave any personal traces behind just by keeping all his stuff hidden away in his school bag and the travelling luggage in the corner.

To the best friends, Natsume had always come off as a gloomy and strange person. Seeing his room this way Nishimura and Kitamoto thought it was kind of... pitiful or just sad.

"I've always thought that Natsume would have rock stars' posters in his room," Nishimura commented off handedly, "Visual Kei maybe? Nahh, L'arc~en~Ciel, definitely."

"Or female pop singers," Kitamoto put in his own two cents, receiving an approving nod from Nishimura. "Morning Musume or Hamasaki Ayumi, definitely."

"Eh?" Natsume stared at them.

"Then again," Nishimura continued, "I've always thought Natsume would be the type to hang haiku scrolls and oil paintings on the walls. Flowers and trees. Don't worry, Natsume. I don't think that's bad either. You know what, I'll even help write haiku for you," He took a step forward and slapped Natsume on the back.

Kitamoto snorted. "As if you're good at that, Satoru. You'll probably just write something weird like  
_[bred in wine  
sweet as sun  
tonkatsu soup's end]"_

Natsume's cat made a sputtering sound that sounded strangely like laughter, before Natsume squished it into his chest with a nervous smile and finally spoke up weakly, "I think it's... delicious."

Nishimura sniffed. "You have no confidence in me. And by the way, that's such a horrifying image, Atsushi! Why did you spoil the tonkatsu with your ill-chosen words? Natsume, don't believe him. I can write a better image about tonkatsu for you. Hand me a paper and a pencil brush, Natsume."

By the end of their stay, they hadn't done much studying together, which had been the initial reason why they had chosen Natsume's place. They had been too busy coming up with haiku poems; Nishimura and Kitamoto competing against each other at first, before pulling Natsume into the game as well.

By the end of the day, Natsume's room had three samples of amateur calligraphs explaining the beauty of food hanging on the wall near the window.

**End**

_

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_

_tonkatsu - It consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet one to two centimeters thick and sliced into bite-sized pieces, generally served with shredded cabbage and/or miso soup. (src=wikipedia)_

**TheNekoTalks:  
**  
... err... XDD This did not end the way I wanted.

**Thank you for reading~!**

**.:Nekocin:.  
**


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